We went to Killingworth Lake and St. Mary's today. We went to look for the goosander at Killingworth and when we got there, we saw them straight away in all different places. As we were walking along to watch a male goosander at the other end of the lake, I was watching the ducks sitting on the bank next to the road and then a smaller duck left the bank and swam past us within 3 feet. I knew as soon as I saw it that it was a female mandarin duck. It was brilliant to watch it in the water then it climbed onto the bank again in front of us. After getting loads of photos of it, we went to see the goosander and then off to St. Mary's. The tide was nearly in at St. Mary's and there was very little rock but there was still quite a variety of waders. These included over 50 ringed plover, redshank, turnstone, curlew, oystercatcher and also 3 knot which were a little different. A nice end to the day!
Mandarin Duck
Goosander
Group of Waders: Top Left (Ringed Plover) Middle Top (Dunlin) Top Right (Redshank) Front (Knot)
Nice shot of the Mandrin Duck, Jack. I must get down there and see it. :-) Sounds like the Goosander numbers are starting to pick up. Cheers Brian.
ReplyDeleteGreat spot Jack. I was there a few days earlier but saw no sign of the Mandarin
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments guys.
ReplyDeleteJack,
ReplyDeletegreat mandarin shots, especially the first one.
and
well done, for the pic in the wildlife mag.
it's a great pose